Texas Rangers Blog

Matt Harrison dominates lefties in first outing

ARLINGTON - LHP Matt Harrison entered the season determined to improve his “reverse” splits against left-handed hitters mainly by working inside more on those hitters.

Consider his first outing a raving success.

Harrison held the three lefties in Chicago’s lineup – Alejandro De Aza, Adam Dunn and A.J. Pierzynski – hitless in seven at-bats Sunday on the way to six shutout innings. He made what amounted to his best pitch to finish off his night – an inside fastball to Pierzynski that he couldn’t catch up for an inning-ending strikeout.

“I stuck to my game plan against lefties,” Harrison said Monday. “I’m going to keep with it. I think if I let them know that I’m willing to come inside, it’s going to open up a lot more things for me.”

Harrison spent most of his time in 2011 working the outside edge of the plate against lefties. That allowed them to dive out more and more and hit whatever he threw. He ended up allowing them a .275 average, while he held right-handed hitters to a .249 mark. Of the 30 left-handed starters to qualify last year, Harrison’s average against leftis was the third worst. Only Seattle’s Jason Vargas (.278) and St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia (.308) were worse.